Psychology (PhD)

Join experts in Qualitative Psychology, Forensic/Investigative Psychology, and Applied Cognition. Research topics such as neural mechanisms of cognition, innovative methods in qualitative psychology, offender and forensic psychology or identity in education.

Places available (subject to change)

The research degree

A PhD is the highest academic award for which a student can be registered. This programme allows you to explore and pursue a research project built around a substantial piece of work, which has to show evidence of original contribution to knowledge.

A full time PhD is a three year programme of research and culminates in the production of a large-scale piece of written work in the form of a research thesis that should not normally exceed 80,000 to 100,000 words.

Completing a PhD can give you a great sense of personal achievement and help you develop a high level of transferable skills which will be useful in your subsequent career, as well as contributing to the development of knowledge in your chosen field.

You are expected to work to an approved programme of work including appropriate programmes of postgraduate study (which may be drawn from parts of existing postgraduate courses, final year degree programmes, conferences, seminars, masterclasses, guided reading or a combination of study methods).

You will be appointed a main supervisor who will normally be part of a supervisory team, comprising up to three members to advise and support you on your project.

Entry requirements

The normal level of attainment required for entry is:

a Master's degree from a UK University or equivalent, in a discipline appropriate to the proposed programme to be followed, or

an upper second class honours degree (2:1) from a UK university in a discipline appropriate to that of the proposed programme to be followed, or

appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level, which has resulted in published work, written reports or other appropriate evidence of accomplishment.

For applicants whose first language or language of instruction is not English you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum of IELTS 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, will be considered acceptable, or equivalent.

Further information on international entry requirements and English language entry requirements is available on our international webpages.

Why choose Huddersfield?

There are many reasons to choose the University of Huddersfield and here are just five of them:

We were named University of the Year by Times Higher Education in 2013.

Huddersfield is the only University where 100% of permanent teaching staff are Fellows of the Higher Education Authority.

Our courses have been accredited by 41 professional bodies.

94.6% of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within six months of graduating.

We have world-leading applied research groups in Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities.

What can I research?

There are several research topics available for this degree. See below for full details of individual research areas including an outline of the topics, the supervisor, funding information and eligibility criteria:

Outline

To understand how people decide if others are lying or telling the truth. This project would approach the issue from a theoretical perspective, and may take (amongst other perspectives) a cognitive, decision-making, or developmental perspective.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Anxiety can be defined as an aversive motivational state that has a detrimental effect on task performance, particularly during demanding situations where the level of threat to the goals of the individual is high. As a consequence, anxiety has adverse effects on cognitive performance in situations which require processing information and which are attentionally demanding. The present project would explore the relationship between anxiety and cognitive performance and in particular working memory tasks such as verbal working memory and visual spatial working memory tasks.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

With an ageing population and increased prevalence of complex, chronic conditions, health systems are facing unprecedented challenges. Technological innovations – from “tele-consultations” and remote patient monitoring to so-called “ambient assisted living” – are seen by some as a way to maintain health services into the 21st Century. This project would use qualitative methods to examine the use of technology in health care settings, and to explore how technology is changing what it means to be a patient or a health professional.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Aim: To develop a comprehensive laboratory based tool for assessment of psychopathy in general and criminal populations.
Methods: Quantitative, laboratory experiment, survey administration, and IQ assessment.

Funding

N/A or see school page on scholarships
http://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships/pg-fee-waivers/

Funding

Supervisors

Outline

Study of atypical and/or homicidal sexual preferences including erotophonophilia, autassassinophilia, anthropophagic homicide, and chronophilias. In particular, proposals involving examining female sexual predators, as a current emerging research topic, would be welcome.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Examining the ways that people reason about and make decisions with external representations of information such as graphs, visualisations, diagrams, maps etc. and using cognitive psychology to reduce error and design appropriate representations for particular purposes.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

There is strong evidence that good work is good for health, yet this is not fully reflected in commissioning decisions and clinical practice. Opportunities to support individuals with long-term health conditions in their employment aspirations are often lost, and once out of work, their prospects are poor. Employment rates amongst those with long-term health conditions reveal one of the most significant inequalities in the UK today, and there is an urgent need to address maladaptive work-health beliefs, cultures and mind-sets within current healthcare practice.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Research into existential therapy is relatively limited and issues such as the relationship between theory and practice and the effectiveness of the approach would benefit from further investigation. This project would focus on the above or related aspects of existential therapy.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Individuals may falsely present medical and clinical symptoms for a variety of reasons. And those who experience true mental health issues may falsely present in order to stop treatment. This project aims to understand deception and its detection in a clinical setting.

Funding

N/A or see school page on scholarships https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/schoolofhumanandhealthsciencesscholarships/

Supervisors

Outline

To examine the ways in which female aggression is viewed, dealt with and punished. In particular, the aim is to examine girls and women who commit violent and aggressive acts including assault, homicide and multiple/serial homicide. Proposals around this emerging field would be welcomed.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Most current conceptualisation of victims of sexual violence portray them as vulnerable, damaged and as in need of psychological intervention. Additionally, most victims of sexual violence are unlikely to achieve a sense of justice through conventional means (ie seeing their offender convicted) and, indeed, some victims may not seek this type of justice. The combination of public conceptualisations of victims and their lack of recourse to justice are potentially problematic and may well have significant implications for the way in which victims survive their experience. Indeed, opportunities for achieving and demonstrating positive survivorship way be thwarted. What are the relationships between victims’ justice needs, experience of survivorship and their long-term psychological wellbeing, and how might each of these issues be better addressed?

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

There is limited research which explores how mental health service users make sense of their own difficulties, and how these understandings might facilitate or constrain recovery. Projects in this area would be likely to use qualitative methods and might include, but are not limited to, exploring how service users manage issues around stigma or how they experience and make use of professional explanations of their difficulties, eg developed through case formulation or medical consultation.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

There has been a great deal of research published that has suggested that playing video games has a negative effect on people’s lives. However, video games have now become a mainstream part of daily life, due to the advancement of technology, such as smart phones and consoles. The aim of the research is to investigate the effects that video games have on behaviour and physiology and they way that people think.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Psychogeographical studies of both built and rural environments, including exploration of themes such as consumer spaces, surveillance, securitisation, gender, memories of place and heterotopic and utopian spaces.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

This will use the latest narrative tools developed with Professor David Canter to identify offenders’ underlying psychological narratives and show how these drive their offending styles and detailed crime scene action patterns.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Modern story telling is cleansed of gore and horror that appear in the original tales of caution and hope; these deal with psychological and cultural issues such as xenophobia, closeness to death, and fear of violent crime. Proposals examining the ways in which folk tales are being expressed in the 21st century, and what psychological issues inherent in that, would be welcome.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

In today’s society of sophisticated technological security solutions, it is more efficient and effective to steal information or money from a company by exploiting employee’s trust or poor security practices. This project will explore effective methods for reducing this form of hacking, known as social engineering, and will potentially have the opportunity to implement this research into companies’ security policy.

Funding

N/A or see school page on scholarships http://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships/pg-fee-waivers/

Supervisors

Outline

When we decide if others are lying or telling the truth, we tend to judge others are telling the truth more often than not. How might we be able to reduce this bias in responding? ALIED Theory, Truth-Default Theory, and other lie detection theories make different claims about how the truth bias comes about. This in turn offers scope for exploring ways to reduce the truth bias. This project would take a theory-driven approach to seeking bias-reduction techniques.

Funding

N/A or see school page on scholarships http://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships/pg-fee-waivers/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Projects in this area would involve examining how individuals' self-perceptions and self-esteem relate to their perceptions and behaviour within intimate relationships. Cross-sectional, experimental and longitudinal designs could all be employed to investigate this.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

To understand how individuals manage their mental health problems and the implications for supporting self-management, through NHS services or in the community. The research is likely to use a qualitative or mixed methods approach. The focus could be on a particular type of problem, such as depression, or a vulnerable group under stress such as carers.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

This project will consider the differing ways in which South Asian masculinities are performed, enacted and experienced in contemporary Britain. It will consider the ways in which religion, gender, ethnicity, culture and race interact in the construction of masculinities and masculine identities.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Under what circumstances do lies successfully deceive the listener, and when do they fail? We know that people make for very good liars, and give away very little in their behaviour. But may there be circumstances in which a lie becomes transparent? This project will explore the boundaries of successful deception.

Funding

N/A or see school page on scholarships http://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships/pg-fee-waivers/

Supervisors

Outline

My main research interests are socio-cognitive development and imagination, specifically imaginary companions (ICs). I am currently investigating whether children with Autism create these entities. I have looked at ICs in terms of culture (Egyptian and English), private speech production, theory of mind, and other various socio-cognitive skills. I am planning to further investigate children’s private speech production longitudinally. Other interests include the development of audio verbal hallucination, early development of language, and developmental correlates of breastfeeding in infancy.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Non-pharmacological interventions are fast becoming an important feature of dementia care. However, limited knowledge is available of both the individual and the relative benefits of each intervention. The project would explore this gap in our current knowledge.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Advances in neuroscience provide closer correlations between conscious experience and brain activity, but the problem of how the two are conceptually related remains. This project would take an aspect of consciousness and review the literature and/or design studies, in an attempt to shed light on this problem.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Moving from one institution, be it school to school or school to university or from undergraduate to postgraduate study, engenders sociological and psychological discomfort which impacts on learning. Contemporary learning theory understands such transitions in terms of shifting identity which reflects patterns of participation. Research in this area involves exploring identity in context to understand learning.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Outline

Many people who are in paid work also care for an elderly relative. This project would examine the impact of care responsibilities on their working lives, especially their decision to reduce their hours or retire early. It would also examine any gender differences there may be in such decisions.

Funding

Please see our scholarships page at https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/scholarships to find out about funding or studentship options available

Deadline

Please see details via the following web page https://www.hud.ac.uk/research/howtoapply/

Supervisors

Applications are welcome for a diverse range of specialist topics and areas of expertise. We would especially welcome applications for topics in which the proposed research is in line with the research priorities of the School of Human and Health Sciences.

Research community

The University of Huddersfield has a thriving research community made up of over 1,350 postgraduate research students. We have students studying on a part-time and full-time basis from all over the world with around 43% from overseas and 57% from the UK.

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through undertaking research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills which are current and relevant to your specialist area.

Research support

The University of Huddersfield has an exciting and comprehensive Research Skills Development Programme free to all postgraduate researchers. The aim of the Researcher Skills Development Programme is to support the development and knowledge of our researchers and broaden their skills base, allowing them to access tools and skills which can significantly improve employability, whether in academia or industry. The provision of the programme at The University of Huddersfield emphasises the importance of developing personal and professional transferable skills alongside the research skills and techniques necessary for your postgraduate study and research. The skills development programme is also mapped onto Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework (RDF), further information about Vitae can be found here

We will offer the skills training through a programme of blended learning to optimise the opportunity presented by advancing technologies as well as face-to-face workshops and courses. The University has subscribed to Epigeum, a programme of on-line research training support designed and managed by staff at Imperial College London which will be accessed via UniLearn, the university’s Virtual Learning Environment.

Facilities

Facilities

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Fees and Finance

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes to aspects of a course or how it is delivered. We only make these changes if they are for reasons outside of our control, or where they are for our students' benefit. We will let you know about any such changes as soon as possible. Our regulations set out our procedure which we will follow when we need to make any such changes.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is the principal regulator for the University.